Chapter Nine: You Might Not Believe It If I Told You

After finally managing to send Chen Qi away, Manager Zhao took a deep breath, sipped his tea to steady his mood, and reflected on himself for a moment.

He realized that lately, he seemed to be more easily irritated. The events surrounding Chen Qi, though childish and laughable, hardly warranted such anger.

So what was the cause? Was it the recent string of workplace frustrations, or was it because Chen Qi was a connection hire and he subconsciously looked down on him? Perhaps it was both.

Just then, there was another knock on the door.

Manager Zhao, whose mood had only just calmed, felt his temper flare up again.

What now!

“Come in!” he practically roared the word.

The office door opened, and General Manager Xu Bunian entered, looking utterly bewildered. “Did you swallow explosives?”

Manager Zhao’s lips twitched involuntarily at the sight.

He was doomed—he’d just run into the real deal.

“I thought it was one of my subordinates coming to bother me again,” he hurried from behind his desk, offering a sycophantic, awkward smile.

Xu Bunian took a seat beside him and asked, “That Chen Qi… how’s he been doing? Has he said anything to you since joining?”

“Chen Qi?” Manager Zhao was momentarily taken aback. “Mr. Xu, did you come specifically to ask about him today?”

“Yes,” Xu Bunian nodded.

Manager Zhao glanced at him, conflicted, as if he had something to say but hesitated.

“What’s wrong?” Xu Bunian was baffled by his demeanor.

“Well…” Manager Zhao forced a rather unpleasant smile. “Mr. Xu, what exactly is Chen Qi to you?”

Xu Bunian was first stunned, then stared at him blankly, saying nothing.

“No, it’s not that…” Manager Zhao felt unnerved by the look, and explained, “I’m not gossiping. I just need to know your relationship so I can properly evaluate him.”

“Just give an objective evaluation. Say it as it is.”

Manager Zhao wished he could cry.

Objective evaluation? If Chen Qi’s relationship with the General Manager was anything special, wouldn’t he be in trouble if he said something unpleasant?

Seeing Xu Bunian’s increasingly stern gaze, Manager Zhao’s nerves tightened, and he dared not overthink it. He quickly explained, “Yesterday, during our morning meeting, we discussed the CCTV public service advertisement. I wanted to be considerate, so I casually asked if he had any creative ideas…”

He carefully chose his words, watching Xu Bunian’s expression, but was cut off before he could finish.

“Can you speak plainly? Your tone gives me goosebumps. Why are you pretending to be refined in front of me?”

Manager Zhao was at a loss, “But, Mr. Xu…”

“Speak plainly!” Xu Bunian had no patience for excuses.

Manager Zhao took a deep breath and decided to lay everything bare.

Fine, if he wanted honesty, he’d get honesty—he had grievances too!

“Right, about that CCTV public service ad, I just asked him out of courtesy, but he didn’t bother being polite at all—he rejected me outright!”

“And do you know what happened next? As soon as he heard about the ten-thousand-yuan reward, my goodness! His eyes lit up—really, Mr. Xu, they sparkled! I’m not exaggerating!”

“He immediately pledged that if his idea wasn’t chosen, he’d leave on his own! But when I was finally curious and asked for his idea, he stammered that it wasn’t finished yet! Mr. Xu, I’m not bad-mouthing him behind his back, but would you believe that?”

“Just now, right now, he came to tell me his idea was complete, and it’s only been a day! Not even a full day if you’re being exact!”

“And you think the idea being done is the end of it? No! Not even close—that’s just the beginning!”

“And you might not believe this, but he said he wants to direct the ad himself! Can you imagine how naive that is? Whether it’s feasible aside, which director in our company isn’t a handful? Would any of them take his direction? If I actually agreed, what would Lao Cao and the others think of me?”

“What shocked me even more was that he had the nerve to ask for a production budget, and his opening request was five thousand yuan!”

“Mr. Xu, I thought I was pretty shameless, but compared to him, I realize I’m downright innocent!”

Manager Zhao poured all this out in one breath. When he finished, he stood up straight, as if to say, ‘I’ve said it, punish me as you see fit.’

Even as he struck this posture, he couldn’t help but glance at Xu Bunian’s expression from the corner of his eye.

Xu Bunian listened to every word without any visible change in expression.

“Did you agree to his requests?” After a moment’s contemplation, he asked.

“I did—how could I not when you’ve spoken?” Manager Zhao replied, sounding quite aggrieved. “But as for directing the shoot, I really couldn’t bring myself to ask, so I just borrowed someone from Lao Cao and let him handle it himself.”

Xu Bunian nodded thoughtfully, then asked, “And what about his idea? What do you think?”

Manager Zhao suddenly felt a bit guilty.

“You haven’t heard it?”

“I couldn’t be bothered!” Manager Zhao had reached his limit, and said disdainfully, “He’s obviously just after that ten-thousand-yuan prize—what good idea could he possibly have?”

“But what if?” Xu Bunian asked.

“What if what? Where would such luck come from?” Manager Zhao scoffed, “He’s a fresh graduate—if he comes up with even a halfway decent idea, I’d call it a miracle.”

Xu Bunian shot him a sidelong glance, saying nothing.

Manager Zhao immediately felt defiant, looked around, grabbed a desk calendar and declared, “Don’t doubt me—let me put it this way. Let’s not even talk about his idea being picked by CCTV; if what he comes up with is good enough for us to submit, I’ll eat this calendar.”

Xu Bunian couldn’t help but chuckle, clearly amused.

“All right, let him do as he pleases. As long as he’s not excessive, just agree to his requests. If anything goes wrong, I’ll cover you. But remember, don’t let him realize anything,” Xu Bunian said, rising to leave.

“I’m off.”

“Oh, almost forgot the main thing.” At the door, Xu Bunian suddenly remembered something and turned back. “KUKU Mobile rejected the proposal we sent yesterday again. See if there’s any way to salvage it.”

Manager Zhao was momentarily stunned, his lips moved as if he wanted to say something, but for some reason he remained silent, only sighing quietly.

Xu Bunian glanced at him and shook his head helplessly. “Just do your best. Tomorrow we’ll visit their company and talk face to face.”

“All right, understood.” Manager Zhao nodded gently.